12-28-13 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools Community Forum

Talking about Teaching Math

First, a link to a great interview in the NY Times with Liping Ma, a former teacher and principal in China, who writes about the differences in how China and the US teach math.  Important reading if you care about math instruction (thanks to reader Dan Dempsey).The writing below is from a member of the SPS math committee who does not want to be named but wanted to give input on what is happening w

by Melissa Westbrook / 19h 

Friday Open Thread

Interesting news about the necessity of dental X-rays for kids from the Los Angeles Times. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Chicago Public Schools is making computer science a core subject.   In the next three years, every high school will offer a foundational computer science course, and within five years, CPS plans to be the first urban district offering kindergarten through eighth-grade

by Melissa Westbrook / 22h 

Fighting the Good Fight

It's nice to see that more and more people - especially educators - are rising up to fight back against ed reform that does not work.John Kuhn, is the superintendent of Perrin-Whitt School district in Texas, and gave a rousing speech - back in 2011 - that's a bit of a foretelling of what educators are finally understanding. From the speech:The poorest Americans need equity, but our nation offers t

by Melissa Westbrook / 22h 

DEC 24

U.S. Government Reports on Santa Claus

For all American kids:NORAD, the Northern American Aerospace Defense Command, has this Santa tracker.  Santa IS on his way (apparently over Mount Everest at this time - thank goodness he dresses for the weather).From Wiki: NORAD Tracks Santa is an annual Christmas-themed entertainment program, which has existed since 1955,[1] produced under the auspices of the North American Aerospace Defense Comm

by Melissa Westbrook / 3d 

DEC 23

Washington State Charter School Applications to be Posted Monday

From The News Tribune:The state Charter School Commission received 19 applications from 18 organizations hoping to launch the type of alternative public schools that already exists in most other states.Also Monday, teams of experts hired by the state commission will start poring over the extensive applications, which include details such as curriculum and instructional models, background informati

by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

Seattle Schools Looking for New Tech Director

SPS is looking to hire a new Director of Project Management (basically a tech director) with a fairly wide-ranging salary (from $94k to $142k annually). 

by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

I'm From the West; How about You?

Fun quiz that you and your family might enjoy (especially if you and your partner are from different places in the country) - from the NY Times, a dialect finder. What I found interesting is that I hesitated in a couple of places because words/phrases I used in my childhood, I don't always use now because I live somewhere else.  But soda is always soda to me.

by Melissa Westbrook / 4d 

DEC 22

Potpourri of Parenting Stories

No "This Week in Seattle Schools" today.  Instead a round-up of stories - happy and sad - about parenting.Let's go with happy first (and you can skip sad if you want to).What to do over the holidays (unlike the Times, I'll try to give you the free/low-cost stuff):visit the Gingerbread Villlage at the Sheraton, 1400 Sixth Avenue. Donations accepted for Juvenile Diabetes. Free.Seattle Cent

by Melissa Westbrook / 5d 

DEC 20

Yoo Hoo, Seattle Times and OSPI - See You in the New Year

I called and left a message for two different people at OSPI today to get a comment about OSPI signing an agreement with the Seattle Times for student and teacher data (it was November 13, 2013 to be exact).  No one called back.I called and talked to Jim Simon, who is the managing editor at the Times.  He's very busy, says that KUOW got it wrong on the personally identifiable student or staff-rela

3 by Melissa Westbrook / 7d hide  //  save

Seattle Schools and Transportation

Apparently, I did not hear/understand Bob Westgard of SPS Logistics correctly yesterday in my reporting on coming changes in transportation. First, the total number of students that may be impacted is 1,000 with under 300 being students at Option schools. Second, the standardization of times are for ARRIVAL, not bell times. Here's the handouts:Transportation Service Standards 2014-2015Here's the s

by Melissa Westbrook / 7d 

Common Core Roundup

Hey, former Governor Mike Huckabee - remember him - says to FOX News recently "Common Core is dead."  Well, not so fast, Mike.The Girl Scouts  and the American Girl dolls series don't think so.  Why?  Because:The American Girl dolls, long a fun way for little girls to immerse themselves in play associated with American history and culture, have now met Common Core. A new American Girl do

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 7d 

Friday Open Thread

Seattle Schools running 2 hours late (but being parents, you already know that).I have seen no statement from the Seattle Times or OSPI on their student data sharing agreement to share Seattle students' data.  Nothing like a newspaper not reporting the news.   Want to let Randy Dorn at OSPI know?Randy I. Dornsuperintendent@k12.wa.us(360) 725-6004  I promise to write a wrap-up of the Operations Com

1 by Melissa Westbrook / 7d 

12-28-13 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: 

Ed Notes Online

Paul Krugmam on the imbalanced boss-worker power relationship applied to NYC principals and teachers

The massive power imbalance between principal and teacher in NYC is not due to a weak economy but to a weak union. Let me expound on this point....employment generally involves a power relationship: you have a boss, who tells you what to do, and if you refuse, you may be fired... We don’t know how much of this profit surge can be explained by the fear factor — the ability to squeeze workers who kn

by ed notes online / 17h 

Not a Wonderful Life: Education Writer’s Block

The Wave - Published Friday, Dec. 27, 2013 - www.rockawave.com

by ed notes online / 1d 

DEC 26

Walcott Public Schedule - To Hand Honorary Diploma to 100 year old

Come on Norm he's just trying to improve the graduation numbers.... Jane M from Change the StakesAnd so it comes to this -- but not the worst way to end it – Unless Walcott closes the nursing home on the way out or opens a charter nursing home next door so Rose Shimony's other birthday present could behaving a choice of nursing homes.MEDIA ADVISORYFor Planning Purposes OnlyDecember 26, 2013PUBLIC

by ed notes online / 1d 

Will de Blasio's DOE rescue Adult Education from Superintendent Rose-marie Mills?

Sent to Ed Notes anonymously:

by ed notes online / 1d 

Schools Matter on union leader duplicity - or how many sides of your mouth can you speak out of at the same time?

As a follow up to our Newark post the other day (Randi, Cami and Newark: Anyone for a Quisling Refe...) and after some flame wars with Randi and Leo on twitter today (which I hope to follow up on) here is a piece from Schools Matter worth checking out.On December 10 Randi Weingarten flew into Newark with her gold-plated bullhorn to protest the entirely predicted outcome to a teacher contract that

by ed notes online / 1d 

Farina Delay: Charter lobby, ed deformers and UFT and allies working behind the scenes?

Who might be opposing a Farina appointment? I know some people are left scratching their heads at what seems on the surface an unholy alliance. Can we talk?We know that de Blasio has been getting pressure from the Obama administration to appoint a pro-test person. As Naison says, given that she wants the job and de Blasio supposedly wants her, Farina should have been announced a week ago. That she

by ed notes online / 1d 

DEC 25

Susan O warms us up on a cold Xmas morn

The miracle of this season is that the Burlington paper actually printed an anti-Common Core Op Ed.http://susanohanian.org/core.php?id=647They promised to print one of mine but never did. I hope this is a sign of an editorial shift.Elsewhere, the Corporate Rule abounds. Take this cartoon, where sugar plums aren't dancing in infants' heads. Instead they are watching their iPad apps from the comfort

by ed notes online / 2d 

DEC 24

Fred Smith, Poet Luareate of the Real Reform Movement

The Night Before… Once More‘Tis the old year that’s closing rosy and gloomy,                   In with de Blasio and goodbye to Bloomy.                           With citywide hope cautiously mingled with doubt,             We’ll soon know down here whether to smile or to shout.    Some fresh air to breathe, perhaps, while out of the North,   Tisch and King blow chill winds and continue to froth. 

by ed notes online / 3d 

Cato Holds Conference to PROVE Early Education Makes No Difference

Why hold a conference when you already know the answers? What next, finding research showing that pre-natal care has no impact? Actually, why have health care at all? Ask anyone involved in this sham if they send their own kids to preschool programs. Will they mention the multi-million word gap between wealthy and poor kids entering school? Cato claims benefits of pre-school don't last. Of course

by ed notes online / 3d 

True Confessions: I Used to Give Kids Finish-like Breaks

An American teacher now working in an elementary school in Finland, via the Diane Ravitch blog, writes about the differences. Finnish schools often schedule lessons into hour-long blocks: 45 minutes of instruction, 15 minutes of break. Students rarely have back-to-back lessons without breaks—and at the elementary level, it's expected that children will spend their breaks playing outside, rain or

by ed notes online / 3d 

DEC 23

Randi, Cami and Newark: Anyone for a Quisling Reference?

These two have a long history together. The dynamic works like this: Randi gives Cami whatever she wants, then complains about Cami exercising the freedoms that Randi has given her. It's sort of like the dynamic Randi is alleged to have with everyone else, except the 'gives', and later the 'complaints', are more pronounced and eye catching than anywhere else....she's not just given the keys to a r

by ed notes online / 4d 

DEC 22

Quisling AstroTurf Groups Like E4E and Teach Plus Reality Distortion

 ...the views of most early career teachers differ from those of many veteran teachers. As a national survey conducted by Teach Plus in 2012 found, early career teachers are more likely than their veteran peers to strongly support rigorous evaluations, performance-based compensation, and inclusion of student growth measures in teacher evaluations..... Balderdash from ed deform astroturf orgs.NYC h

by ed notes online / 5d 

DEC 21

Matt Vaz in The Brooklyn Rail

Then he gets on the train, everybody in the train car has to lie face-down on the floor with their hands behind their head. Then the train goes 150 yards, and then stops in between two stations, and then Bloomberg exits through a private tunnel, and then gets back in his helicopter and flies to Bermuda to get a manicure and pedicure. He goes to Bermuda every day. He loves that spot. He bought a ho

by ed notes online / 6d hide  //  save

Videos of PS 321 Event: Teachers Talk Testing

Help Us Lower the Stakes Around Testing for Teachers and Families in NYCI attended this amazing event at PS 321 which I reported on (Teachers Talk Testing Forum at PS 321)I didn't have to film as a professional film maker, Michael Elliot, has been working with various groups opposing high stakes testing. He has put up a batch of videos cut into short very watchable segments. They include teachers

by ed notes online / 6d